unwrittenlegendsfandomcom-20200215-history
Combat
About Combat Melee combat is any type of non-ranged and non-magical physical attack by one character on another character. It can be initiated by holding a weapon in your primary hand and typing "attack " while you are in melee range of your target. Most weapons will also have different verbs that can be used to initiate different types of damage. For example, a broadsword can be used to slash or thrust. A slash will cause more damage, while a thrust will be more precise. Simply typing "attack" will randomly choose between the different attack types of a specific weapon type. Also, you may specify which part of your opponent's body you wish to attack. If you don't specify, you will randomly attack a body part. Some body parts are more vulnerable to certain types of damage, and some are much more vital (such as the head and neck). To attack a specific body part you can type "attack 's right leg," or you can string both specific commands together to have "thrust 's right eye." Combat Styles Weapon and Shield This style of combat, although fundamental, is very effective. The idea is to attack with a weapon while parrying oncoming blows with a shield. For this style of combat training in armor, shields, and a choice of a one-handed melee weapon is required. Of course, learning tactics can always help give you an upper hand in the battlefield, and to completely utilize this style, the player will also need to be in the proper stance, on his guard and ready to parry any blow. Shields rely on the Shields skill, and require the user to be in parry stance. Shields take a penalty similar to armor for using a shield of a metal and style beyond your skill. This style is most frequently used by Grit Mercenaries, making hybrid or power weapons the best choice for offense in most cases. Two-Weapon Fighting Tactically more difficult, two-weapon combat can be very deadly. The idea is to carry two weapons and use one to parry blows as well as attack. The skill in which one parries the blows depends upon their proficiency in the parry skill. Most often used with precision or hybrid weapons, this style of combat requires vast knowledge of combat tactics. Knives, rapiers, shortswords, and occasionally longswords are the most viable weapons for this fighting style. This fighting style carries penalties for those not expressly trained in it's use, and tends to be used most often by Finesse-style mercenaries due to their lack of penalties regarding it's use. Unarmed Combat Requiring strength and stamina, brawling is the simplest form of combat, yet quite lethal, whereupon a person uses his bare hands to pound his opponent into submission. Unarmed combat allows a person to grapple his opponent and wrestle them to the ground using strong-arm tactics as well. The moves in grappling include; punch, kick, shoulder throw, hip throw, elbow, and head butt. Various classes and races have their own styles of martial arts, including but not limited to Qai Monks and Dirty Tricks Mercenaries. Polearm Combat Battling with the aid of a pole arm is very different from other forms of combat. The long reach allows a person to engage one enemy while keeping others at bay. To be effective at this style of combat extensive training in melee weapons is necessary. Learning tactics helps as well. The stance that is used is important since a polearm can be hard to handle otherwise. Among some polearms are lances, spears, staffs, halberds and staves. Polearms can be used in melee-to-polearm range, and the penalty for use in melee range is currently disabled. Polearms are infrequently used, and are found most often in the hands of Berserker-Style Mercenaries due to their fighting style. Two-Handed Weapon Combat Two-handed weapons can be anything from a simple maul or club to a deadly flamberge and require strength and knowledge of the melee weapons skill as well as tactics. While objects can be held in the offhand while a two-handed weapon is in hand, doing so will prevent the wielder of the large weapon from attacking. These weapons most often require raw power and are frequently used by Berserkers. They can be used in conjunction with the parry skill, or Evasion and Dodging. Ranged Combat Ranged combat is very effective at allowing a person to kill an enemy from afar. Many bowyers and fletchers in the lands teach the skills required to use bows, crossbows, automatic crossbows, and guns, which fire piercing projectiles at an opponent, thereby doing damage. When fighting with the Archery skill, parry is useless, so evasion is the best choice. Archery weapons can be used from any range except for Very Far. Thown-weapon combat works in a similar way and one can be up to a stone's throw from the enemy and still hit. One needs to be schooled in thrown and slings to master these weapons, which include; stones, knives, daggers, and throwing axes. Magical Combat To battle an enemy with magic, one must have learned the spells available to him and can only invoke those that coincide with his level of learning. Magical combat also allows a player to cast defensive spells on himself and his hunting group, offering them some protection from enemy fire. Wands and scrolls are also available and will, in many cases, allow a magic user to cast spells above their capacity at that time. If the caster's primary hand (Arcane) or head (Vedic and Astral) are mutilated, they will be unable to cast magic. Many offensive spells can be charged in various ways, best looked up in your class's spells section. Please see creatures for what to hunt.